


The Spring Sunshine in His Dark Life: In Defense of SasuSaku

by WhiteLadyDragon



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Analysis, Character Analysis, Commentary, F/M, Meta, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Rants, Shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 01:15:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22423792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteLadyDragon/pseuds/WhiteLadyDragon
Summary: A meta I wrote to debunk some common misconceptions around the ship SasuSaku. If you ship them, please enjoy! If you do not, consider this an invitation to re-examine the ship.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Kudos: 51
Collections: why im sleep deprived 💖✨





	The Spring Sunshine in His Dark Life: In Defense of SasuSaku

**Author's Note:**

> Meta is originally posted on Tumblr, which you can see here: https://super-kame-love.tumblr.com/post/182080833811/ship-that-is-most-misunderstood
> 
> Title is a reference to Sasuke's private thoughts about Sakura from the light novel, _Akatsuki Hiden: Evil Flowers in Full Bloom_. 
> 
> Feedback is welcomed if it is constructive and made in good faith. All inflammatory comments will be ignored. I also highly recommend, for further reading that analyzes the ship more in depth, that you check out the two-part meta written by Tumblr blogger momo-kanjaki, to which I shall link you here.  
> Part 1: https://momo-kanjaki.tumblr.com/post/170962751654/sasusaku-analysis-part-1  
> Part 2: https://momo-kanjaki.tumblr.com/post/170962755199/sasusaku-analysis-part-2
> 
> In addition, please see this masterpost lovingly compiled by ywhiterain:  
> https://ywhiterain.tumblr.com/post/143077489422/sasusaku-masterpost

Way back in the day, before I ever picked up the manga, most of my knowledge of _Naruto_ came from sporadic viewings of the anime, the video games (the latter played by my brothers), and to a smaller extent, Internet memes. Naturally, all of these gave me a rather…unflattering picture of Sasuke, Sakura, and their relationship. 

But this is why you can’t just go by what other people say, nor can you just go by an adaptation. You certainly shouldn't go by memes. All of these sources are bound to be biased or misinformed, assuming there is no malice behind them. You’ve got to do your own research. Look at the original source, ideally with no expectations for the sake of objectivity, and form your own opinions. While it wasn’t Sasuke or Sakura that spurred me to finally get the manga for myself–I have my hyperfixation with Orochimaru to thank for that–I found myself falling in love with their story all the same. 

Really, the only complaint I have about it is that they don’t get a whole lot of time together on-panel. That, plus the overwrought and unnecessary drama we see in _Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring_. But then, as far as the former goes, the story isn’t primarily about their relationship, or anyone else’s romantic relationship. I know plenty of popular ships, in this fandom and in other fandoms, that are based on a lot less than what this pairing gets in canon. So while I call it a complaint, it’s not serious enough to deter or diminish my enjoyment of the ship. I can buy that they grew into a romantic couple during the time skip between Chapter 699 and Chapter 700. The latter, I’ll get to in a bit. 

Besides, what we do get to see from them in the manga is fascinating in how subtle yet powerful it is. It’s saddening and maddening to me to see how much it gets ignored or grossly misinterpreted. I mean, not only are most of the accusations I’ve seen thrown at it untrue, but some of them would, by their own flawed logic, actually apply better to other rival ships. 

But I’m not here to tear down other ships. I’m here to talk about how much I love this one! When I first wrote this commentary, it was in response to a meme someone sent me asking which ship I considered the most misunderstood. SasuSaku was the one I chose to discuss for this fandom. Staying on topic with the original question, I have chosen to discuss the ship by debunking some of the common misconceptions surrounding it. With panels from the actual manga! Except for a few notes in between them, I think I'll let these speak for themselves. 

**“Sasuke has never cared about, acknowledged, or even really liked Sakura.” / “Sasuke is abusive towards Sakura.” / “Sasuke has tried to kill her too many times.”**

I will grant you that it’s unlikely he reciprocated her romantic feelings until at least Chapters 698 and 699. He was in no mind to be thinking about romance at all with anyone. 

But to say he has never shown fondness, concern, or respect for her in _any_ capacity is patently false. 

Whenever Sasuke or Sakura enter a scene in which they appear together in _Shippuden_ , she is the one he verbally acknowledges first, before anyone else. 

Notice how he electrocutes everyone here _but_ Sakura. 

He only moves to attack when she moves to attack, first. 

Notice also how he puts all his focus immediately afterwards on Yamato, leaving himself open to Sakura again if she only took the chance (which, unfortunately, she doesn’t). Some may be inclined to interpret this as proof that Sasuke doesn’t think she’s worth bothering with, but actually it suggests that Sakura is the one he would most prefer _not_ hurting when it can be helped. 

While we can’t know for sure how Sasuke’s attack would have gone down had Orochimaru not stopped him, he does back off from it rather quickly after Kabuto tells him why Naruto and company should be spared. 

Again, when he arrives on the scene, it’s Sakura who he acknowledges first. Everyone else registers afterwards. 

If you’re wondering why he catches Naruto and not Sakura, it’s because he’s already seen Kakashi catch her. So there was no need to fly to her. 

The above image needs no explanation...

Note that while Kakashi is again the one to catch Sakura, Sasuke does appear prepared to do the same. It’s just that Kakashi beats him to it. 

There he goes again, needlessly pushing people away…how fortunate that Naruto is there to call him out on his nonsense. 

I have seen far too many people use these panels to infer that Sasuke is always putting Sakura down. No, he isn't. He is only being honest about the situation at hand. The best she and Kakashi can do is help subdue Kaguya. They can't undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi; only Sasuke and Naruto can do that. And of course Sakura looks distressed by how cold he's acting. He's been doing nothing since his arrival except give mixed signals as to whether he's on their side or not. Anyone with sense would be concerned about that, regardless of their feelings for the person in question. She's not taking offense to his assessment of their predicament, nor is she upset that he hasn't acknowledged her prowess (as I've established, he has). Her issue is that she's unsure if he can be trusted. She isn't wrong to doubt his intentions, either, as we see later in the story. 

And yet antis argue on the other side of their mouths that Sakura blindly tolerates everything he does and, supposedly, "regresses" when she's around him. Go figure. 

Allow me to interrupt my montage to say this: how interesting that even though no one has said anything about romance, least of all Sakura, Sasuke still has to make a comment like that when he tries to blow off her plea. You can't just listen to what he says; pay attention to his non-verbal language, too. He stops when Sakura cries out to him. His foot shakes. He pauses. We don't see his face until he turns around to give a forced smile similar to the one we see Sakura put on when Sasuke first arrived to help them. And then he puts the genjutsu on her (which, I must say, his delivery thereof is terribly intimate...he's got his arm deep in her chest and everything. Compare that to how, when he fires at Karin from a distance to get to Danzo, it's from a long distance).

And then when Kakashi tries to tell him the truth of the matter, Sasuke is shown to be thinking about his family. 

In other words, Sakura is as important to him as his family. Multiple characters, like Shikamaru, Karin, Kakashi, and Naruto himself, pick up on how important she is to him. And contrary to what he says, in some untainted part of his mind buried beneath his hatred, coming back home entails opening up to her and building a future with her. He spends all this time and exerts all this effort trying to discard his bonds, but he can never accomplish this entirely.

Continuing! 

Sasuke is in fact the first to openly acknowledge Sakura’s potential as a great kunoichi, and the only male character who consistently shows respect for her skills without looking the least bit intimidated or frightened by her strength. 

Sakura is the only person he’s ever directly said “Thank you” to…

…the only person he’s said “I’m sorry” to with complete and genuine remorse…

…and the only girl who isn’t his mother that he seems entirely comfortable with. Actually, outside of his immediate family, Sakura is the only person in general that he seems comfortable with touching. 

I’ve seen some people claim that Sakura “chased after” Sasuke against his will during the blank period. What are they talking about? We’re assuming that Sasuke is traveling all over the world. Ignoring for a moment the fact that Sakura would never force herself on Sasuke to begin with, how would Sakura know where to look to catch up with him unless he told her where to find him? And why would he tell her if he didn’t want to see her? Considering how willful he is by nature and how powerful he’s become by this point, the only logical explanation for their travels is that after a certain point, he decided he wanted her with him. 

While we’re on the subject of their travels, you may recall the light novel, _Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze_. Since Kishimoto illustrated the book, we can consider the novel, and all the other novels, as canon, even if he didn’t write the story himself. Anyway, one plot point is that the antagonist, Kido, endeavors to kidnap Sakura in order to lure out Sasuke–something he wouldn’t be bothering with if he didn’t think Sasuke cared enough about her to come to her rescue. 

Indeed, the only reason Sasuke does diverge from his journey is because he is alerted of Sakura’s plight. Up until that point, he’d been ignoring all of Konoha’s attempts to contact him. Except by the time he gets there, Sakura has already dealt with Kido. Because of course she’d never want to be used to hurt Sasuke. 

The very title of this commentary comes from a line in _Akatsuki Hiden: Evil Flowers in Full Bloom_. Though he does reflect on his bonds with the rest of his team in the book, he thinks this about Sakura: 

_But that was not all, even though he had abandoned, ditched, and many times been cold to this certain person..._

**_Haruno Sakura has dedicated her love for me._ **

_And always tries to give the spring sunshine in his own dark life._

Sasuke knew all along the nature of Sakura's affections for him, and somewhere inside him, he did appreciate her love. It just took him so long to allow himself to embrace it, let alone reciprocate. Since breaking out of the Curse of Hatred, he has been painfully aware of how badly he treated her regardless of the things he'd been going through in the past, and he regrets it. He wants to atone for the pain he's caused her, and others, by focusing on healing and giving back to the world at large-he says directly to her in the penultimate chapters of the manga that she "has nothing to do with [his] sins," but he promises to return, with a forehead poke, once he completes his redemption. 

Which he does! All before inviting her along in his travels, and later commencing a formal relationship with her. Did he plan for that last part to happen from the start of his journey? No, not likely. Rather, with the storm clouds of hatred no longer hanging over him, his own romantic feelings for her grew on their own until he decided one day that it was right to let them flourish...and share them with Sakura. 

Not to downplay Naruto’s importance to Sasuke, but it’s safe to say that without Sakura, Sasuke would have fallen into darkness much sooner, and he may have never come back out of it. When someone is in as much trouble as he is, you can’t just yell at them and beat sense into them. They also need a gentle touch, which is what Sakura gives Sasuke. 

She’s even able to halt his Curse Mark transformation in the Forest of Death (at least for that time being) just by hugging him! 

The worst he’s ever said to her–apart from being blunt, which is not the same as being mean or cruel–is that she was annoying. However, he’s only done that three times in the entire story, and it’s only the first time when he means it in a negative way. Justifiably so, since Sakura had made a pretty obnoxious and ignorant comment about Naruto being lucky not to have parents. It must be noted, by the way, that Sakura immediately reflects upon this and shapes up very soon after. While she still loses her temper with him (everyone has their flaws, and Naruto really can get on people's nerves, sometimes intentionally), she never picks on Naruto again, instead becoming one of his closest friends and greatest supporters. That all came about because Sasuke appropriately called her out.

Anyway, the other two times Sasuke says it, it’s more of a strange term of endearment. Just look at his expressions for each time! 

Oh. And he once knocked a plate of apple slices out of her hands in anger, while she was visiting him in the hospital. That wasn’t nice. 

However, he’s called, and treated, Naruto and Karin and others far worse and far more often. I’m not saying it’s okay of him to treat the others worse. It’s not. I’m merely pointing out the lack of logic in using the abuse argument against SasuSaku and not other ships. 

As for almost killing Sakura, it’s typically out of self-defense after she struck first–and could not follow through on because she knew there was still good buried deep in him somewhere. 

The one time he does strike preemptively, it’s to put her under a genjutsu so she won’t interfere with his battle with Naruto as she'd once tried when they were all still genin–and to sever his bond with her by making her hate him. 

Also, they’re shinobi temporarily on opposing sides. What else can we really expect from them? 

**“Sakura is selfish.” / “Sakura is just a fangirl.” / “Sakura doesn’t understand Sasuke.” / “Sakura is too weak for Sasuke.”**

The part about Sakura being selfish and/or a fangirl may have been initially true up until the Chunin Exam arc–and even before then, Sakura is already showing signs she could care for him to depths far beyond a shallow crush. Also, why are you getting down on a twelve-year-old girl for acting like a real twelve-year-old girl, treating her feelings like they don't matter? Everyone has to have a starting point for their growth, and I'm sorry, but we can't all be Itachi. 

As an aside, there's a common misconception that she and Ino became rivals because of their mutual interest in Sasuke, but that's not what happened. Sakura wanted to get out from under Ino's shadow and recognized that the only way to do that was to distance herself from her. That they happened to like the same boy was an extra incentive; at best, the final little push Sakura needed to go through with it. But it was certainly not the prime reason for their split. 

Besides, it's not like they ever truly stopped being friends. After their match in the Chunin Exams, they are shown in both the manga and anime to spend time together and be supportive of each other, when they aren't competing. They're rivals like Naruto and Sasuke, but without all the angst and drama. 

Anyway, even if her feelings for Sasuke may have begun as shallow, they most definitely were not so afterwards. From the Chunin Exam arc onward, I would argue that Sakura becomes one of the most self _less_ characters in the cast. Sure, she makes mistakes while acting on those intentions, but who doesn’t? 

Contrary to what we might say here online, I seriously doubt most “fangirls” would go to the lengths Sakura has gone for Sasuke if her feelings had not grown deep and genuine. Some people claim that she was moving on from Sasuke prior to his reappearance, but that’s not true, either. There’s never been any point in the story that suggested this. 

She only makes that fake confession to Naruto in the hopes that it would convince him to stop putting his life on the line for Sasuke–which Naruto promptly calls her out on. 

She only does it in the first place because Sai gives her the wrong impression that Naruto is doing it just for her. So being the good friend she is, of course she’d want to try to stop Naruto. 

True, she may not have known the entire story behind the loss of Sasuke’s family. But does being privy to one’s troubled past automatically mean you know someone that well? 

If anything, she understands his personality better than most, and as we see with her first confrontation with Sai, she will not stand for people bad-mouthing him when they have no idea where he's coming from and write him off as a lost cause.

Sasuke does open up to her-mostly without prompt, might I add-even if he doesn’t tell her _everything_. And she can’t be accused of not trying to understand him, either. It's Naruto who almost blindly accepts his return during the Fourth War, unlike Sakura, who maintains a degree of quiet and justified skepticism. 

What the heck? Is it me or is Sasuke blushing in the top left when Sakura is speaking? _Hmmm!_

How else can you explain how she has the foresight to try to stop Sasuke from leaving the village when no one else had the inkling that he would, right then? 

On his end, I don't know about you, but this does _not_ look like the face of someone who is indifferent to someone else's pain:

And about her love confessions being “selfish” or “emotionally manipulative”…how exactly are they so? There’s nothing wrong with telling someone who is in trouble that you love them or that what they’re doing hurts you, not when it’s all true. Nor is there anything wrong with trying to talk them out of doing something wrong, stupid, and/or dangerous. Should she have offered to come with him and help him get his revenge when we know she didn't mean it? Probably not. But Sakura was desperate. It's not fair to expect her to know how to talk one of her best friends off the proverbial ledge, given her age and level of experience and expertise at this moment. 

What Sakura is doing is no different than what Naruto tries to do. In this fandom, she's constantly put down for being "obsessed" with Sasuke, yet it's Naruto who allows his concern for Sasuke to dominate his life, for better or worse. Naruto is hailed a hero for his desire to bring Sasuke home while Sakura is written off as pathetic for the same thing. Why is that? (Don't answer that; it's rhetorical.) 

Also, on the topic of weakness, Sakura has in fact saved Sasuke’s life on four separate occasions–five, if you count the time she fights off Team Dosu while he, Naruto _and_ Rock Lee are all out of commission. 

She is a rough woman who happens to be tender with the man she loves. There seems to be this persistent idea that a woman isn't allowed to be in love, or act like it, in order to be considered strong. Well, that doesn't fly with me at all. It's only human and natural of her to hesitate to attack Sasuke when she loves him. And any blushing she does around him happens well after the Fourth War, well after Sasuke has broken out of the Curse of Hatred. Not once does it happen during the war, or even throughout the majority of _Shippuden_.

That doesn’t make her any less strong, nor do her tears. It gives her depth and dimension. It takes real strength to keep a part of you soft, using brute force only when it’s absolutely necessary. 

Anyway, while it’s true that we never see her land fists at him like Naruto does, that doesn’t mean she never stands up to him or never tells him he’s wrong. Her confrontation with him in Chapter 181 confirms this, but just in case you need more examples...

She doesn’t even accept his apology off the bat, and not just because she’s trying to make sure her boys don’t bleed out. When she asks, “Sorry for what?”, she means, “You’ve done so many things to be sorry for. You’ll have to be more specific.” 

Still, given the severity of his injuries, she doesn’t force him to list every single thing then and there. She accepts his summary of them with, “Damn right, you are!” 

And while we’re talking about crimes, why is it that everyone can forgive everyone else in the story for their transgressions, no matter how serious they are, but Sakura is not allowed to forgive Sasuke for his?

**“Sasuke and Sakura are only together because they have Sarada.” / “Sasuke doesn’t love his family.”**

_Uuuuuuh_ …

And in case anyone is still in any doubt about how physical Sasuke and Sakura are with each other…

Like I said, I think the Uchiha family drama was overwrought in _Naruto Gaiden_. It could have been written just a little better than it was. Even so, people are _still_ making it sound way worse than it is. Sasuke is not away from home because he wants to be, but because he _has_ to be. He’s like any parent who happens to be in the military, being called away for missions. He goes overboard with his secrecy-which does make sense, given his protective instincts and hypervigilance-but once he’s seen the damage it’s dealt, he quickly and sincerely takes the blame for it, apologizes, and does his best to make up for it. He must succeed in this endeavor, or else Sarada would not come to admire him upon getting to know him. 

Besides, he was there for Sarada’s first few years of life before he left to investigate Kaguya and everything related to her. He’d have to have been there for her when she was old enough to be able to at least vaguely remember him, if this panel is any indication. 

When Sasuke said, “Because you exist,” he meant, “If your mother and I didn’t love each other, we would have never made you.”

If he really meant, “We’re only together because we have you,” why on earth would Sarada be crying happy tears while Naruto and Chocho smile at them? 

Sasuke hails from a clan said to value love above all else. Love, and the loss thereof, motivate his actions. For one to seriously think that he’d marry and have a child with a woman he didn’t love, and then intentionally neglect them both, is not just absurd and wrong but, frankly, it’s insulting to his character. The notion is insulting to both him _and_ Sakura, but especially to him. 

I’m not even going to touch the whole “Karin is Sarada’s real mom” thing. That theory, and all its variations, are insulting to everyone involved. The BS readings on that one are so off the charts that they leave me speechless.

I'm just going to leave this here, instead: 

On another note, I've seen way too many people put down Sakura for settling down as "just an (unhappy) housewife." First of all, there's nothing wrong with being a housewife if that's what a woman chooses for herself. Homemaking is as demanding as any job outside the house, if in different ways. Second, that claim isn't true. Sakura still works as a medic within the village, and she opens a mental health clinic for children with trauma. Apart from all the normal frustrations anyone else would go through in her position, she is happy with her life and marriage. You are severely underestimating her fortitude, not to mention misreading the text, if you think she's miserable where she is now.

Third, it's been my observation that a lot of misunderstandings surrounding the ship have to do with a failure to appreciate cultural context. _Naruto_ was never written with Western sensibilities in mind. The culture in-universe is a fictional and anachronistic version of real-life Japanese culture. The author, Mr. Kishimoto, grew up in rural Japan. SasuSaku lines up more with relationship norms in many East Asian cultures. That they're not exactly open or extravagant with their affections in public doesn't mean the affection, respect, trust, and care don't exist. To the contrary, they do, in spades! ~~It could be argued that it's more than a little ethnocentric to say it's an invalid relationship just because it doesn't conform to the ideals of modern Western feminism.~~

To summarize: SasuSaku may be an angsty ship, which is admittedly part of its appeal for me, but it is also a mutually beneficial one in the end. Sasuke is the first to acknowledge Sakura’s potential as a ninja and the catalyst for her growth as both a ninja and a person. He is the only male character who consistently shows respect and faith in her skills, but that doesn't stop him from running to help her when she's in trouble, because that's what you do for people you love. It makes especially painful sense in Sasuke's case when you remember how he lost his family and spent so much time blaming himself for not being there to help them, when he isn't blaming himself for being too weak. 

Sakura’s love for him evolves from a shallow crush to deep, unconditional love. By the Chunin Exam arc, it stops mattering to her if they’d ever get together; all she cares about is saving him from his demons. While she is by no means his only important bond, Sakura is Sasuke’s only wholly _positive_ one-besides the one he had with Mikoto, his mother, when she was alive. He’s more relaxed around her and lets himself be vulnerable with her in ways he can’t be with others. Even as he descends deeper into madness, Sakura is the last person he’s ever wanted to hurt. 

While he may not have necessarily been in love with her until the end of the manga, she has always been special to him, which multiple characters (e.g., Shikamaru, Kakashi, Naruto, Karin) do point out. She knows him better than most and has always had an effect on him every time they interacted, however brief it would be. She would give him the support and incentive he needs to complete his redemption and healing. She is what makes his house in Konoha a home. 

At the same time, she’s never been afraid to tell him he’s wrong when he is in fact wrong. That’s another thing I love about them: they check each other on their BS, but never in a way that’s mean-spirited. 

Notably, they do not begin an official romantic relationship until after Sasuke breaks out of the Curse of Hatred and completes his redemption journey, which is a great call. A few years later, their love would create Sarada. And while it’s unfortunate that Sasuke would have to miss some of Sarada’s growing up for his missions, the love shared within the new Uchiha family is as strong and deep as it’s ever been. 

Thank you for your time and attention! Have any favorite SasuSaku moments? Share them! I only ask that if and when you decide to leave a comment, please be courteous of fellow shippers. The point of this meta is to celebrate and lift up this ship by clearing up the misunderstandings around it.

I don’t expect to have changed any minds about SasuSaku. I may have forgotten some details, seeing as there are so many. Hence, I have provided links in the beginning notes to direct you to another shipper who has written about them in depth. I just want to say that if you’re going to knock SasuSaku (or any ship, for that matter), I invite you to at least examine your reasons for disliking it. Don’t dislike it because you mistook it for something that it’s not. 


End file.
